Whether you number among the ranks of the unemployed, or you are about to separate from your employer due to a downsizing, or even if you are “putting out feelers” in the name of career advancement, our continuing series concerning interview tips will be of benefit to you.  Today’s tip is often overlooked, yet can be critical to the success of your interview.

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Congratulations: you have secured an interview!  In order to ensure that you maintain the most professional demeanor and ace the interview, you will wish to heed the following interview tips:

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We’ve all had them, those hellish days when we’ve wished we had never tumbled out of bed.  Interviewers have those days as well.  Constrained by business ethics to conduct themselves with the utmost professionalism, the fact remains that those who must interview prospective employees often deal, simultaneously, with larger issues.  When these personal matters spill over into a job screening session, however, the manager’s attitude can color the entire tone of an interview and even blacken it against you!  For instance, you might, be speaking figuratively when you ask rather innocently, “Would my job functions include writing reports after I have met with the client?”  The interviewer may snap back with, “You don’t have the job yet!  That’s for me to decide!”

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Given the need to run leaner and meaner in an increasingly competitive environment, career professionals have streamlined the interviewing process.   Essentially a process of elimination for both interviewer and job candidate, it is no longer “business as usual” to conduct a first or sometimes even a second interview in person.  Instead, the telephone has become the medium through which a job candidate makes an initial, direct impression upon the recruiter or employer.

A calm, confident, and professional telephone demeanor infers that you conduct yourself in a similar manner in business settings.  In order to convey this image, be prepared.  Once you have submitted your resume, cover letter, and any other required documents to the headhunter or prospective employer, presume that you will receive responses via telephone.
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Consider this true story as told to us by one of our clients who, for the purposes of this article, we will refer to as Karl.  After two years of gainful employment with a major retail organization, highlighted by several sales achievement and customer service awards, Karl felt well prepared for career advancement.  When he broached this topic to upper management, he was told that he would be considered for a promotion when a suitable position opened.  A month later, the floor manager in Karl’s department tendered his resignation.  But when Karl once again approached the division manager, he learned that another employee was chosen to fill the position. Understandably perplexed, Karl asked to know the rationale behind this decision.  “If a customer has a problem and wants to speak with someone in charge,” the manager explained, “what am I supposed to do? Point to you and tell the customer to talk to that short man on the selling floor?”
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